The List: 6 Feb 1998 (Issue 325)

Davrd Lynch's first frlrn in five years is so far out there, its roads are lard out on a

different map Bill rullrrran rs a Jan

irrusrr ran frealzed out by videotapes shot inside hrs hearse, at one point he transforms into tar iiiechanrc Balthazar Getty, who's havrng an affair with gangster's moll Patric ra Arguette, who also plays Pullman's wrfe 1.1ind games with the characters, rrrrnd games with the audience Don't expect iriaiitstream logic, just experrerire the rnovre, as Lynch disorientates us with sliding

for us, weird noises and a st ary intensity lt's lrlze suffering from

(f)ll‘.1(llliVf‘lilfl’J -F“oly(3rarrz»

Men In Black

(PG)9/1 mins =- r v a

Cool rookie Will '{xnrth and 'leadpan veteran Torrirrry Lee J’ir‘es are members ’)1 a secret government department that helps frrerrdly alrerts assrrnrlate into the New Yorlz way of lrfe while keeping nasty outer-spat ers rif‘ the planet All the best bits ")1 tlze buddy formula are matched to good spec ral effects and a snappy, very funny st rrpt lCrilurrrbra Trrstar, PG, 91 nirrtsi

Roseanna's Grave

(12) 94 mins

Taking a sweet-natured approach to black humour, thrs all-hut-unseen tale of unnatural devotion is offbeat enough to win most vies'rers over to its side Jean Reno prorrirses ailing wife lrlercedes Ruehl that she'll he lard to rest in the burial plot she desires, but an unexpected tragedy means spaces are going fast, and so he becomes deterrnrned to keep hrs neighbours as healthy as possible Hats off to Monsieur Reno -PolyCaraml

Get On The Bus

(15) 116 mins Sj)1k(’l.(‘(’l<ll;i“>tllll’tlltllhliiﬂf Black America in a l)th to the l.'iillron l.1an

March in Washington DC, but rt feels like he's ticking off the Issues rather than letting the politics lend fire to the drama The angry actor, the obmxrous Republican businessman, the cap, the Muslim, the father and hrs rfelrnguent son there's too muc ‘. stereotyping for it to really work, although veterar‘. actor Ossre Davis has t re autl‘ror't‘,’ t, grve the group some spiritual weight (Columbia Trrstari

Grosse Pointe Blank (15) mins 3% ii 1» ii

If any film bubbled under last year and deserves to srrnrner on as rt hits the vrdeo shelves, rt's thrs utterly cool pit starring John Cusac k as a freelance hitman, back home for a high school reunron The ac tron has a tour h of Woo, the humour rs blac l: and Cusac lc rs wonderful as he swztc hes from laughs to romance to the pliysit al demands of the role rBuena "."rsta'

Robert Carlyle's retearnrng with Ken Loach (who gave hrrn hrs first major frlrn role in Riff Raff: rs surprrsrng in that rt works better as a romant e than when the ac tron shrfts to a rather predictable politic al c :rmax in Nicaragua lt's strll t’ rnpellrrui '.'re\'.'rng, however, and that's almost entirely

Frank Bruno has done a bit of panto and Henry Cooper once invited us to ‘splash it on all over’ in a TV ad. That, as far as acting goes, is pretty much it for the British boxing community. Filmmaker Ron Peck has other ideas, though, as his work with a group of young Eastenders shows.

In 1991, Peck spent months filming the members of a London gym for his documentary Fighters, which endows a straight interview style with arty leanings. Peck is fascinated by the romantic image of the boxer in the movies and idealises his subjects. They. on the

other hand, talk of the appeal of man-to-man contact. of a chance to escape from poor neighbourhoods and achieve local standing. Although it‘s very much a personal work, Peck does manage to present the sport from a point of view inside the ring rather than from the seats in the hall.

In Real Money, a fictional tale of a drug dealer drawing local lads away from the gym with promises of quick cash, the same participants reveal almost as much about their personalities as the documentary. Shot on video, it's like a feature-length episode of The Bill minus the coppers. Trainer Jimmy Tibbs plays an old-style Londoner, concerned about 'family’ and able to imply violence without direct threat. while former boxer Jimmy Flint is a cold~eyed adversary with dangerously pent-up energy. Professional actors just don't have faces like these guys, so despite its weak plot, Real Money can hold its head high as an always watchable. genuinely independent project. (Alan Morrison)

a Fighters and Real Money are on sale now on the Academy Video label, priced

serial LOOK/IN) After Jo Jo gathered together on one tape, rt's gritty and entirely realistic nothing like Trainspotting once you get past the ohwous reference points on the surfac e rPolyCiram £12 99/BBC £14 99)

Dallas: JR Returns

(PG) 90 reins s

The Southforl saga begins again, as JR 1; ornes ha: l. from Europe with a new plan tr) wrest Ewing Oil from art h- enerny Cl ff Barnes Plenty of old faces slip on therr Stetsons and overplay the (harat ter traits that onc e made them household names lt's preposterous stuff, eter‘ for its type, but for old fans, there's a def‘nrte panto-land appeal '\\‘arr‘-er £9

Drifting Clouds

(PG) 96 mins ss- w s a

Ala Kaunsrna'u's t wrnedy of despair has sri'i‘e heartl‘real. rv: moments when ‘ate ;;'ays a trrxel lrand to a Finnish couple llc‘r‘ra loses her gob as a head \.'.<lli(” nrrt long after her husband Lauri rs r'iade redundant from the tram twmpany They struggle rigainst

‘rrially a break in the

retessw‘ and ﬂoods t "lines as a result of their o‘.‘.n

hard \.'."_;l'i; Nit a million miles away from Ken Lear h's Raining Stories, the film sets grey l'ves against colourful stirrwxrrvftrvzs and finds hrpe .r‘. people :31 a riartan

a'e s Liil, vet s wr'drnaiy

{1599‘

Brit Awards 98 r

(E) 90 mins * i ii *

There's probably no better indication of where the rnusrc scene rs at in the UK than the annual Brit Awards vrdeo The rndre dominance of a couple of years ago has weakened in favour of the dance acts now hitting the charts, grvrng the 1998 compilation a broad mix of styles Good to see there’s room for some of the year’s new acts — Travrs, Stereophonrcs, Finley Quaye, Embrace beside old lags Personal vrdeo favourite rs Blur's Song 2 rWarner Music Vision £14 99)

Spice Exposed (l8)48mins** ; No Sprc e Girls music, no endorsement from the group and no clothes on Sen Hallrwell My, my Her pre-pop career

as a nude model sent sad male fans

st tirryrng over the Internet, and here

she is again in the same photo shoots lslake-up artists, photographers and 'fnends' grab their fifteen seconds of fame to tell us Geri was the same exhibitionist then as now, and how